1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to exercise bars and particularly to exercise bars used to train for motocross riding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The sport of motocross cycling (either on motorcycles or bicycles) has been enjoyed for years by thousands of people. Motocross, however, is an athletic event that requires proper conditioning. At the competitive levels, the sport requires excellent physical conditioning to be able to participate with any kind of competence. One area of conditioning that is required is that of the hands and arms. Since motocross bikes are steered using handlebars, hand and arm strength and flexibility are essential.
There are exercises that can develop the hands and arms. These exercises can be done on exercise equipment such as a multi-function gym machine, which has weight bars that can be attached to cables that can be weighted down further. Weights are attached to the machine and the bars are gripped by the user to pull the weights in a particular direction and with a particular arm spacing. In this way, different muscle groups can be worked.
Several such exercise machines and handles have been patented over the years. Examples are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,691,916, 4,792,135, 5,352,171, and 5,947,873 and in the following published U.S. Patent Application: U.S. 2002/0028733. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,273,509 and 4,743,018 teach specific handles for use with exercise machines. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,899 teaches a motorcycle trainer. This is a device designed to exercise the entire body to handle the riggers of rough ridings, such as motocross. This device is a machine that has a frame and several springs and plates that are covered by a body similar to that of a motorcycle without the wheels. The plates and springs are either controlled hydraulically or electrically to move a rider up and down and side to side. The idea is to work the muscles in the same manner as they would be worked while actually riding.
While all of these devices are suitable for what they are intended for, all of them except for the last patent do not specifically work muscles used n motocross. The latter machine does this, but requires a specialized machine that is expensive and complex.